Traumatic brain injuries range from acute mild head injury to acute intracerebral hemorrhage. Chronic manifestations of head injuries are myriad, including chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a progressive degenerative disease attacking individuals who have experienced repetitive brain trauma, such as concussions. Chronic manifestations of CTE may occur years after the brain insult and include many forms of cognitive impairment such as memory loss, confusion, dementia and depression.
These matters have been recently brought to light by football players who have developed symptoms associated with CTE, having sustained multiple head injuries during their football career within the National Football League.
Despite the best efforts of football helmet manufacturers, traumatic forces, as a result of helmet-to-helmet contact, continue to be transmitted to the brain, resulting in neuronal and axonal injury and brain cell death.
Efforts to minimize such trauma by inventors and manufacturers have focused on improvements within the helmet including padding, foams, and air bags within the player's helmet. Despite best efforts, today's helmets do not prevent concussive injuries, as helmet to helmet contact is not minimized, thereby allowing for head injury, which have both short and long-term consequences.
In Canadian Patent Application 2,795,808, a shock-absorbing helmet is described with a pair of magnets. The magnet elements are disposed between an interior liner and an outer shell with magnetic protection afforded only upon impact, and only upon attempted compression of the outer shell of the helmet—the higher the impact, the more attempted compression of the resin of the outer helmet, the higher the degree of magnetic force attempting to modulate the effects of the collision. If two helmets, configured according to Canadian Patent Application 2,795,808, were to collide, then the shell thickness in both helmets would prevent the outer magnets in both helmets from closing within a maximum repulsive range (e.g., prevent magnet to magnet contact). For example, if the thickness of each football helmet's outer shell is 3 millimeters or greater, then there would be a 6 millimeter or greater separation distance between the magnet elements. This 6 millimeter or greater separation distance would eliminate the maximum repulsive force between the magnets in the two helmets. For example, two neodymium magnets (Grade N52) with a diameter of 0.4375 inches, a thickness of 0.125 inches, and a separation distance of 0 inches (touching) have a maximum repulsive power of 6.72 lbs. If the magnets are separated by 6 millimeters (0.236 inches), their magnetic repulsive power is reduced to approximately 0.5 lbs. See, e.g., FIG. 1. Canadian Patent Application 2,795,808 does not attempt to prevent impact between two players' helmets. The stiff, solid exterior resin would transmit concussive effects to the head, notwithstanding the magnets between the interior liner and the outer shell. The magnets' presence would serve to strengthen or stiffen the helmet. Therefore, the forces of two colliding helmets would be transmitted to the respective player's brain.